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Recon idle adjustment

47271 Views 14 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Mudslinger70
Does anyone know the factory setting for the idle screw?

My wife's bike is extremely cold natured. I will not idle when cold, so I end up turning in the idle screw.

Then, about 25 - 30 minutes later, it's about to rev through the clouds, so I back the idle screw back out to where ther is a nice, comfortable idle.

The bike runs fine throughout the whole rev range after being warmed up, but I find it hard to believe that it takes a half hour to warm the Recon up.

I may have to tear the carb. down and give it a good cleaning.
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You might be able to help this problem by adjusting the A/F screw or leave the choke on till it is warmed up. My foreman used to do the same thing except it only needed to warm up for about 10 minutes after I added the pipe jet kit k&n filter and snorkel it starts better and will idle cold.
I just don't like leaving the choke on for that long. I don't want to foul any plugs.

Does anyone have the specs. for the idle screw in a shop manual?

I've found that if you set your idle screw to spec. first, it makes dialing everything else in much easier.
Hello????

Anybody out there?????????


Bueller????

Bueller????
You need to look at the idle speed using a tachometer with the engine warmed up and in neutral. Adjust the idle speed to 1400 rpm plus or minus 100 rpm by turning the throttle stop screw. My machine does the same thing (2003 Recon ES) and I just turned up the idle and it's still cold blooded but doesn't stall out while idling....good luck.

PS: my buddy put the tachometer on, but I don't know how he did it because it was at his pole barn.
I've been through the same thing...I found out it's better to get the idle speed down where it belongs and just be patient and let it warm up good.Don't worry about fouling spark plugs,I run it a long time with the choke out and never have any problems.IT's a pain though because it won't stay running by itself until it's fully warmed up.
Hey, thanks guys. I thought I was momentarily losing my mind.

I just took a small screwdriver with me on a couple of trips and got her idling perfectly after a solid half hour of riding. After that, I haven't had to mess with it.

It still has a rough idle for the first half hour, but after that, it purrs like a kitten.

I just use the choke at initial startup and use the throttle a bit while stopped until it is completely warm.

I thought I might have to rebuild the carb, but it's good to see that it is now a pretty common issue and I'm not really losing my mind!
UPDATE!

I cured the poor idling/long warm up problem.

I finally had enough free time to tear the carb down and give it a thorough cleaning. I bought the quad from the original owner and it was in storage for 2 years, so I was pretty confident it just needed cleaning.

It took me forever to find a rebuild kit. It is the same internal components as the TRX250EX, so that's what I ordered the rebuild kit for and it worked perfectly. I found this out by cross-referencing the part numbers on Bike Bandit's exploded views of carbs, and they are the same.

I tore the carb down, blew out all the lines with compressed air, and replaced the main jet, slow jet, pilot screw, idle screw, float valve and all the o-rings and washers. I was looking at every part as I went along, and everything was clean and undamaged - until I got to the slow jet, which was completely clogged. I probably would have been okay to just clean the slow jet and put everything back together, but I already had everything apart, and I had a new bag of parts, so I went ahead and replaced everything I could.

It took about an hour just taking my time making sure everything was as it should be. I was looking at a shop manual as I went along so I wouldn't screw up.

All year Recons have different carb settings, but for my wife's (a '04), 2 turns out from seated on the pilot jet, and an initial setting of 1/2 turn out from seated on the idle are the baseline settings. I had to open up the idle screw a bit more than that, but now the bike purrs like a kitten.

So, anyone having crappy idle problems or extremely slow warm up times, check your slow jet for being clogged. Now I don't have to use the choke at all. It fires right up and runs perfectly from the word go. It used to backfire occasionally on deceleration, and that is also completely gone.

Now that thing runs like a Honda!
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Hmmm,that's interesting.My wife's Recon has been doing that since the day it was new so I figured it had to be normal.Maybe next weekend I'll tear into it.Do you really need the rebuild kit? I've had Honda carbs. apart before and usually the o-rings are fine and can be re-used.
You probably won't need a rebuild kit. I didn't need one, but I had already ordered one, and it was already apart, so I went ahead and replaced everything I could just in case.

I've rebuilt and jetted lots of carbs in my day, and I have never seen a slow jet with such a small opening.

I probably would have been okay just cleaning it myself, but like I said, it was already apart, so I went for it.


Something interesting I noticed during the rebuild...I have an actual Honda shop manual, not a Clymer or otherwise. On their exploded view of the carb, they show the spring on the vacuum diaphragm on the wrong side of the diaphragm. 2 pages earlier in the book is a correct photo of the correct location.

I almost ruined the diaphragm by trying to reassemble it by the exploded view. Anyone with the Honda manual can see exactly what I'm talking about. I thought that was pretty strange considering it is an actual Honda manual.

I'm interested to see if your carb has the same problem.
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Gentlemen, I have a 2003 Recon ES and have just finished soaking the carb in the proper solvent and have completely re-assembled and installed it on my machine. Does anyone know the factory settings for the pilot jet screw (#6 on exploded view) and the idle screw (#9 on exploded view). I simply need to know how many times you back the screw off after being seated. It appears that there are different factory settings for each year. I saw the 2004 settings and hope someone has info for a 2003. Thanks!

PS: Everything seems to run fine, but I would like to get the screws back in spec for proper fuel/air ratio and just for my peace of mind.
QUOTE ("450ES-2003":euafwvia)
Gentlemen, I have a 2003 Recon ES and have just finished soaking the carb in the proper solvent and have completely re-assembled and installed it on my machine. Does anyone know the factory settings for the pilot jet screw (#6 on exploded view) and the idle screw (#9 on exploded view). I simply need to know how many times you back the screw off after being seated. It appears that there are different factory settings for each year. I saw the 2004 settings and hope someone has info for a 2003. Thanks!

PS: Everything seems to run fine, but I would like to get the screws back in spec for proper fuel/air ratio and just for my peace of mind.
If you haven't set it yet, I will check my manual when I get home tonight and let you know. That will be $39.95. (Just kidding!)
Still need the info if you can provide it....thanks!
QUOTE ("450ES-2003":x4v3jhmx)
Still need the info if you can provide it....thanks!
Ok, I completely brain farted last night and forgot. I will send the info when I get in tonight.
QUOTE ("450ES-2003":1i31m469)
Still need the info if you can provide it....thanks!
Ok, sorry for the long pause - I have been getting in late from work, and it slips my mind every time. I finally remembered! Here you go...

(I started a whole new thread, and here's the link)...

<a href="http://hondaforeman.com/phpBB2/viewtopi" target="_blank">http://hondaforeman.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... 3308#83308</a>
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